Dastak

Across this screen
A reader now rare
Echoing my thoughts
Anybody out there?

Newton's Law of Gravitation

Exam question: Briefly describe Newton's Law of Gravitation (2 marks).

Answer:

Once a Newton

And a Newtoni

Sat under a tree

Said the Newton

To the Newtoni

"Apple ko lagi Gravity!

Say Yes or No."

"Y-E-S. Yes."

Proved, hence.

The Secret Society of Surreal Socks

Macho men with their mustaches
Burly brutes with their beards
Lovely lasses with their lashes
And wiry wizards very weird

Nagging nannies with nincompoops
Perfect professionals with papers
Surly sous chefs with steamy soups
And sorry slaves in skyscrapers

They all share a secret spirit
Hidden away from prying eyes
Beneath the layers of drab outfit
Smile gleeful socks in disguise!

Gaping from a tweed pant leg
Peeping from a pastel skirt
Glancing through plaid and rag
And from under hems with dirt

Surreal socks of all sizes!
Popping up in pretty pinks
Ravishing reds, purple prizes
Bustling about in blue blinks!

Yodeling in yolk yellows
Grinning in green glimmers
Blowing by like burgundy bellows
And sashaying in scarlet shimmers

Spreading joy in secret splashes
Warming feet and hearts
Is the Society of Surreal Socks
As Secret as silent farts!

Outside The Cocoon (the series)

Fear protects you from loss
and prevents gains from you.

***

The sooner learnt the better:
Life is unfair and the world owes you nothing.

***

We receive what we need
So we can work towards what we want.

***

The rich having found their power in sophistication

And the poor in their obscenity

I find that I have nowhere to go

***

When a crowd of 'otherwise respectable' men

join in when urged by a spineless pervert

To drag and beat a girl, and grope her and almost strip

And the crowd refuses to intervene

While a journalist calls cameras instead of police

Reuben Fernandez and Keenan Santos,

...you are sorely missed!

***

One day as I sat flipping the channels

I learnt something from "Big Boss" astonishing rather

While watching Aseem Trivedi and Sampat Pal bicker

That there are different kinds of courage

And each may not necessarily understand the other

***

I understand why Tharoor

wants to name and honor the girl

but sir, kindly refrain!

For this nation of don't-cares will stand up only when

they see that this brutal treatment

could be meted out to their own daughter

and not just another "name"...

***

Dear young woman from a small town,

How come if I happen to judge you on your lesser

educational qualifications (which I don't)

then I'm considered selfish, snobbish, and arrogant...

And if you judge me on my lesser kitchen prowess (which you did)

then you're a proud, self-assured, and a confident woman?

***

Friendships that are abound with extreme mutual respect

and the unsaid promise of having each other's back

Are the ones that are forged while struggling through

government officials, procedures, red tape, and paperwork!

***

Subject to updates.

Chained

Each day is pain, every breath in vain
The turning of boons into an aching bane
Falling deeper into a daily desperation
Thrashing around to flee this suffocation

What do you do when physically trapped
In a space where you just can't be
In a sheath of anguish wrapped
And a hopelessness that you can't flee

When every venture fails
And every corner leads to an end
When life turns into a labyrinth
And a monster waits at every bend

Love was supposed to converge
To be the end to all means
And while the world struggles for riches
My lifelong struggle is you, it seems

Vasudha

तुम्हे आदत है लोगों से अक्सर ये सुनने की

कि तुम्हारी कुछ बातें बिलकुल उनके जैसी हैं 

तुम्हे आदत है फिर प्यार से मुस्कुराने की 

क्यूंकि तुम्हारी सब बातें तुम्हारे जैसी हैं 

दरअसल वो सब तुम में ढूंढ रहे हैं 

वो सारी खूबियाँ जो उनमें हैं नहीं 

वो सारी अदायें जिनकी उन्हें चाहत है 

वो सारी बातें जो उनकी हैं नहीं 

जो उफनते हैं मदमस्त नदी की तरह 

उन्हें लगता है उनमें तुम्हारा ठहराव है 

और जिनकी बातें कभी ख़त्म नहीं होतीं 

उन्हें आशा है उनमें तुम्हारा स्वभाव है 

जो फिसल जाते हैं दुनिया के हर प्रलोभन से 

उनका मानना है तुम्हारा इनकार उनमें है 

और जो छुपकर रहते हैं मुश्किल रास्तों से 

उनका कहना है कि तुम्हारा साहस उनमें है 

तुम्हारी हँसी, तुम्हारी बचपन सी मीठी बातें 

तुम्हारी ख़ामोशी और तुम्हारी हसीन आँखें 

तुम्हारा दिल, खूबसूरती तलाशती निगाहें 

तुम्हारी समझदारी और तुम्हारे सच्चे वादे 

ये चीज़ें आसान होतीं तो हर किसी में मिलतीं 

फिर न होती किसी को तुम में खुद की तलाश

तुम जैसी बन पाऊँ ये कैसे मुमकिन है 

पर हो मुझमें भी तुम्हारी झलक, ऐसा होता काश

Happy Birthday Laddoo!

Hello Archika, meet Archika.

I have never had a room to myself before. Ever. Which is surprising considering I have been living away from parents for the past two years, and usually prefer spending my time alone and aloof. But now that I am finally in the U.S of A (yay?), I realized that this was the first time I was really, truly alone in a room.

And this realization did not hit me immediately. Though I came here with Whizkid (thank you God for that blessing), we did not scoot off to our rooms as soon as we arrived. Our first week was spent camping on the carpeted floor of the living room watching Homeland and staring out the balcony glass door while eating dinners off plastic wraps. It was when our mattresses arrived that we finally got around to setting up our individual spaces with some reluctance. Whizkid and I have been roomies before, and this was a new stage in our relationship. We were graduating to be flatmates now. And she was better equipped to deal with this than I was. She has years of experience of being in a room of her own for years. Not me.

And this did not dawn upon me until I was finally sleeping in my own bed in my own room that night.I felt weird. I could not put my finger on it. I kept expecting someone to walk in and put a mattress next to me and camp down. But that was of course not going to happen. And so I started recalling my life in reverse. There has always been a Whizkid, a Joshua, a Laddoo, or the tiny presence of my brother in a corner of the room always. How much I wished at that moment that he would turn up. Because I wasn't elated at all at the thought of having a room to myself now (which I would often wish for when I had him), I was terrified. I did not feel liberated. I felt stranded. So, along with the pressures of the crazy graduate workload, exams, career fairs, money crunch, barely anybody to talk to, no friends (why am I suddenly having trouble making friends?), I also now have to learn to live with myself.

This was the first time I was going to discover who I really was. Hello Archika, I thought to myself, meet Archika. I don't know who I am going to find. I hope I like the Archika I am starting to meet. I hope I am able to learn to make the best use of my time and my space. I pray I fall in love with my company without the expectation of the long stretches of time being interrupted.

So, far, I have made friends with the three trees that are right outside my window. A few days more and I am pretty sure I will have names for them. And though I still despise being holed up in an empty space, I sometimes have beautiful, private moments.

It rained today, helping the lights in the window glitter

My guess (and hope) is that it will only get better from here.

Until later!